back next week for our special election week broadcast live from nbc's democracy plaza in new york because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." developing right now on "first look." complete details moments away. the storm is drastically changing president obama and mitt romney's campaign plans with eight days before america votes. the san francisco giants are world series champions. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc.

this is d-day with hurricane sandy. waves are growing ever more om nis and the threat of storm surges from 4 to 11 feet high. this is the scene about 100 miles north of boston. hundreds of thousands have been told to evacuate in coastal a areas all the way into new england. the storm claimed 65 lives in the caribbean and has the potential to paralyze new york and other big cities. early this morning president obama has signed emergency declarations for connecticut, pennsylvania and rhode island, clearing the way for help from fema. let's get right to bill karins who has the latest forecast. what do you have? >> the storm has strengthened instead of 75 so that's very impressive that this storm continues to lower its pressure, even going over the cooler

waters now and it's only about 386 miles away from new york city. it's actually moving at a pretty decent clip at 15 miles per hour so it's going to move in in a hurry. a lot of people are waking up looking outside. maybe it's not raining where you are and not that breezy as when you went to bed, but, trust me, it's on its way and the power will go out in a hurry for millions of people especially southern new england all the way down through jersey, pennsylvania, maryland and delaware. the center of the storm, a pretty well-defined eye. pin needle of an eye and the hurricane hunters have been flying in and out of the storm getting a bearing on how wide the wind field s the intense winds are maybe about 200 miles within this center so those are not onshore getting some of those tropical storm force gusts and later we'll approach the hurricane-force gusts. high wind warnings in light blue

from northern maine down through the spine of the appalachians down into areas of the virginia/north carolina border. winds will be 30 to 50. sustained during the entire afternoon and evening and overnight and with some gusts possible, 60 to 80 miles per hour. again, those highest winds would be on the northern side of the storm at that landfill and the winds are also gusty but kind of similar now as to when you went to bed last night, 38 in virginia beach, 41 ocean city, maryland. it's when you get in the 40 to 50-mile-per-hour range that you start to notice the trees going down when you will have power outages. windy up to new york city. 38 but those intense winds will move in during the day. right now not that bad. it's bearable and is not even raining in a few spot. the new path that just came out. 90-mile-per-hour winds and could get a little stronger by this afternoon and then they take it onshore. they actually shifted it just a little further south almost over

wildwood and that would mean that atlantic city, northward would be on the stronger side of the storm but won't have an eye wall so the bottom line is from atlantic city, up on the coast in long island and connecticut and new york city area you could expect the worst storm surge and the worst winds with this storm. all the heavy rain, by the way, is on the south side so the heaviest rains will be falling in areas like maryland and delaware and all the way through the washington, d.c. and baltimore area and as far as the rainfall forecast on the north side, there's not a lot. don't ft. big flooding like we had with irene but once you get to the south side that's the heavy amount so, again, veroni a veronica, sandy has intensified expect to get up to 90-mile-per-hour winds right before landfill this afternoon. we didn't want a stronger storm and it looks like we could be dealing with that shortly. >> what are you talking about, are you saying category 2, 3?

>> it doesn't look like it will get to a category 2 and making that hybrid transition anyway so they probably won't go up to a category 2 but the fact the stronger the winds the more water this storm can push and that high tide cycle this morning and a couple of hours will be bad but the one tonight, that's the one that could be historic. >> bill, we'll check back with you. much of southern new york will feel the biggest impact from this storm. right now we go to reporter tracy strahan of wnbc in rock way beach, this morning. tracy, what is it looking like right now? >> reporter: like these waves will quickly be approaches the boardwalk where we're standing, veronica. the winds intensified about a couple of hours ago. if this wind is only the beginning of the storm it's clear that new york city will be in for a hard hit from tropical storm sandy as it is now. 375,000 have been forced to evacuate their homes.

mandatory order for zone "a" where we're standing in the rockaways. but driving around not a lot of people have heeded that warning deciding to stay put and batten down the hatches but are prepared for the storm and breaking out generators and boarding up their homes. it just remains un cleclear whe or not that will be enough to stand up to the storm. they're having coastal evacuations. the long island railroad that runs from new york city to long island has been shut down, service from new york city's buses and subways have come to a halt as well. there are evacuation shelters being set up in new york city, 72 of them that are up and running right now but we're told that only about 1100 people are currently staying inside of them. now, here in the rockaways preparing for a potentially life-threatening storm surge. all along the coast homes with a gorgeous ocean view and, again,

many people have decided to stay put, tape up their windows and hope for the best. veronica? >> tracy trahan of wnbc, thanks very much. as hurricane sandy barrels closer to the storm it's being felt on the campaign trail and with the election just eight days away, the impact could be just what both candidates either wanted or feared the most. nbc tracie potts has the latest for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we're on the south side of that storm dumping so much rain. so far light rain. we have not yet felt the full effects of sandy but the wages aren't taking any chances. with the storm on the way romney canceled rallies in north carolina in the storm's path. instead he'll join paul ryan's bus tour in ohio. >> our thoughts and prayers are with the people who will find themselves in harm's way. >> reporter: president obama

canceled events in virginia and colorado and will do one last rally in florida before heading to washington. he met with fema overseeing the government's plans to help states and cities. >> anything they need, we will be there. and we're going to cut through red tape. we're not going to get bogged down with a lot of rule. >> reporter: in florida he told campaign workers, turnout is the key. >> whoever is able to get their voters out will win florida. >> reporter: that could be tough in states where sandy is headed. maryland has canceled early voting and virginia, a battleground state could see power outages lasting until election day. >> several months ago and we had the third largest power outage in history but got everything back on in pretty much seven days. >> reporter: virginia is already planning to extend its hours for absentee voting and early votes, an sentys, early voting could be critical.

40% of this election it's believed will be decided before election day. we're waiting to see if sandy will let the other 60% get out and vote. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. how hurricane sanly will impact your travel plans, plus, wall street may take a walloping that will keep traders home. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] free windows 8 training from your son. can you help me with something? nope! good talk.

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well, welcome back to first look. want to update everyone on some of the travel delays and all the travel impacts that this storm has caused already and will cause in the days ahead. the big one of course being the airports. all the major cities like washington, d.c., as we go from dulles, all the way up to bwi, and as we head to philadelphia and new york city. 7200 flights canceled. that's a crazy number. it will probably increase as we have to watch flights being canceled into tuesday even.

may not be until wednesday that some of the airports get up to full operation. because of all of this, you can assume airlines will help people. change fees have been dropped. if you can't fly, a lot of people want to go on the train. we learned our lesson from irene where people got stranded on trains. amtrak, service is suspended throughout much if not all of the northeast corridor, veronica. not easy to get around. people may be driving a little bit this morning. i wouldn't recommend it. this afternoon and evening will be the worst of it. this was very interesting. this is what it looked like as we went throughout yesterday afternoon and evening with all the airplanes in the sky. all the airplanes trying to avoid the storm getting out of harm's way and doing their typical rounds. this is what it looks like this morning. early in the morning, you wouldn't be expecting a lot of planes flying. one plane over central pennsylvania, no planes in the air this morning at this hour over new england or the mid-atlantic as sandy approaches.

all those flights already canceled. >> lots of stokes stranded. bill, thanks. sandy is a big enough storm to make wall street shutter. the nasdaq has been stopped all trading today. it's the first day they have been stopped in all stocks since the day following the september 11 attacks. depending how much damage sandy inflicts markets could be closed again tomorrow. late last night, exchange operators made the call to suspend all u.s. stock trading after complaints were made about keeping markets open, even for electronic trading. banks in evacuation zones have closed their offices and advised employees to work from home. a number of insurers are already scrambling. rapid response teams as estimates swirl around $5 billion. home depot, lowe's and walmart were flooded with customers prepping for the storm. sandy has also caused stocks to

avoid reporting earnings. pfizer and entergy and nrg are also postponing their reports. and jp morgan chase is waiving a number of overdraft and late fees for new jersey, new york, and connecticut, consumers and businesses impacted by the storm. back to the story. hurricane sandy hours from making landfall. it is taking dead aim at new jersey. danielle leigh has spent the night in cape may which is on the southern tip of new jersey. danielle, i understand there are mandatory evacuations where you are. >> reporter: that is true, mandatory evacuations took effect yesterday afternoon. right now we are getting drenched in a steady downpour. if you look around, nobody is around. they've all hunkered around. many people who didn't follow the advice, they hope preparations like these boarded up windows are going to hold. we know the storm is just getting going. across the northeast, a rising tide is sending violent waves crashing down on coastal

communities. in new york the water is already uncomfortably close to home. >> god knows what can happen. >> from new york to new jersey hundreds of thousands have been forced to pack up and get out. public transportation is shut down and thousands of flights canceled. schools and businesses also on hold today. new jersey governor chris christie has stern words for anyone ignoring evacuation orders. >> if something looks like it's stupid to do, it is. >> reporter: a similar tone from new york mayor, michael bloomberg. >> you're not only putting yourself at risk but also the first responders who will have to assist you in the emergency. >> reporter: sandy is over 700 miles wide packing wind and rain that could last 36 hours. homeowners in its path spent sunday boarding up, laying sand bags, and gathering last-minute emergency supplies. >> we lucked out with irene and now i don't know. this may be worse. i don't know. >> reporter: the time to prepare

now over. time to stay inside and hunker down. >> reporter: and an emergency official here in cape may, new jersey, said, quote, this is the worst case scenario. they are predicting recording flooding. the tide could rise up to 8 feet and power outages that could last up to two weeks. we're hearing about the power outage in cape may. i'm danielle leigh, back to you. thank you so much for that report. we appreciate it. just ahead, more on hurricane sandy and a preview of the interview with president obama. you're watching fir"first look" msnbc. look, if you have copd like me,

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could've had a v8. or...try kids boxes! welcome back to "first look." our satellites in space focus down on sandy also. this is a pretty fascinating image. you can see the scope and the size and how immense this storm is. you can see the center of it right there in the center of your screen. that was a little bit of an eye feature that has been on and off apparently with the storm. let me break down and show you that the new forecast from the hurricane center, two things changed. they shifted the landfall slightly to the south and they sped up the timing a little bit too. three things because they did increase the intensity to 85 miles per hour. they do think that early this afternoon it could go up a little bit to a 90 mile per hour hurricane. that's impressive. for this time of year it's amazing. to have this this far north heading for areas so densely populated is possibly devastating.

we've been advertising for days this is going to be an historic event. now that it's shifted to the south, areas like atlantic city, new jersey, long beach island, those areas, we're hoping to go under the center. then your storm surge wouldn't have been as high. if it goes to the south, wildwood, cape may, that is looking in central jersey. it will still be just as bad up here into areas of new york city and long island. a little shift to the south doesn't help you much. now as far as what we're dealing with, the other aspect of the storm i haven't talked about much mostly because i didn't have time, there's snow, too. areas of west virginia already breaking out in snow. we're expecting a full-fledged blizzard. we could expect one to two feet of snow at the highest of elevations, in areas like snowshoe, beckly, it will be nearly impossible to be traveling later on today because of that snow. cold, blustery day across the country. cold air is being sucked into the storm. it will turn into a really strong hybrid hurricane like

nor'easter type storm. again, the big concerns, veronica, the wind, the millions of people losing power. that's when the lights will go going out. the storm surge. high tide around 8:00 this evening. that could be devastating. >> looking at that photo from space, bill. just frightening. >> just a huge storm. big in size. >> it is. all right. thanks for that, bill. well, today president obama is juggling his campaign schedule with his role as emergency manager in chief. he'll appear with former president bill clinton at a rally at the university of central florida this morning. yesterday the president spoke with our own joe scarborough and mika bra skin zi in new hampshire. he talked about a lightening rod issue for this election, the attack in benghazi. >> what my attitude on this is is if we find out that there was a big breakdown and somebody didn't do their job, they'll be held accountable. ultimately as commander in chief i am responsible and i don't shy

away from that responsibility. my number one responsibility is to go against people who did this. you can watch joe and mika's full interview this morning on "morning joe" at the top of the hour. still ahead, the latest headlines. marco rubio's daughter airivity willed to a hospital after a golf cart rollover. and then sports. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ scratching ] you're not using too much are you, hon?

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very good morning to you. welcome back to "first look." here are some other stories making news this morning. syrian military bombed areas of

damascus and other parts of the country. rebels say the airstrikes killed at least 14 people including women and children. in massachusetts, officials closed another pharmacy as part of the outbreak of fungal disease that has killed 25 people and made 344 sick. a surprise inspection turned up unsanitary conditions at a facility called infusion resource. in florida, the 12-year-old daughter of marco rubio is hospitalized in fair condition with a head injury following a golf cart accident over the week end. she's undergoing tests but she is expected to recover. the unmanned dragon space capsule returned safely to earth carrying medical samples from crew members. this was the first mission for the private space x company. arg gee was at the top of the weekend box office. it's about rescuing americans during the iran hostage crisis

brought in almost $12.4 million. the new james bond movie skye fall starring daniel craig got off to a huge start making $77 million. it opens in the united states on friday, november 6th. in sports now, san francisco beat detroit in four straight games to win their second world series in three years. with the score tied in the second inning, marco scutaro singled to center and the giants went ahead of the tigers 4-3. in the bottom of the tenth san francisco sealed the sweep. >> again, the 2-2 pitch. got him looking! and the giants have won it all. now to the nfl. peyton manning led the denver broncos to a 34-14 win over. >> drew: brees and atlanta remained the envelope's only

unbeaten team with a win over philadelphia. i'm veronica de la cruz and this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because way too early with willie -- "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. we should plan to see heavy rain that lasts for 36 hours once the storm starts to hit later tonight into early tomorrow morning. we don't know what this means for some communities in new jersey. it's been one of our priorities to give them the flexibility to act. act first and worry about things later. it's one of those times that uses one of my favorite sayings. easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. and 5:30 a.m. here in